“It will take a long time” to produce a successful vacine, said Richman at UCSD. “But the need and the payoff are so great that the effort is worth it. Anyone in HIV research has to be an optimist and take the long view.”

The next step for researchers at Scripps and elsewhere is to find or create immunogens – the active ingredients of vaccines – that provoke immune systems to produce antibodies similar to the newly discovered bNABs. In other words, they need to teach the body how to produce powerful antibody protection before exposing them to HIV.

“The scientific barriers to conquering HIV have been very high for a very long time,” said Seth Berkley, president of the vaccine initiative.